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“He didn’t want anything to do with the bigotry and the prejudice on either side of the Old Firm. My brother and I ended up supporting Celtic because we followed the best team and the most exciting football.

“We still have a few dinosaurs and some knuckledraggers on both sides but I think they are getting fewer.”

The progress which has been made is underlined in the short film Vocal Minority, part of The Break series promoting new writers and which is available online on BBC3 and iPlayer.

David plays a Rangers-mad dad whose gay son, played by James Rottger, is more worried about telling him his boyfriend is a Celtic fan than about coming out.

David Hayman and James Rottger from Vocal Minority (Image: Collect Unknown)

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The family tension comes to a head on the way to an Old Firm match. He said: “I thought that was such a brilliant, Glaswegian line, ‘I am more feared of telling my dad my boyfriend is a Celtic supporter than I am telling him I’m gay’.

“Things have got so much better. I think the majority of both supporters are brilliant, good people who are not bigoted.”

David’s grandad Wattie came round eventually.

He added: “He was a cantankerous old b******. Of course, we made up. It was a temporary blip in a lifelong relationship.”

Hayman was barred from his grandad's house for two years after singing Irish folk songs

David, who also appears in the movie Finding Your Feet with Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton and Joanna Lumley, was delighted to team up with emerging talents, especially as he got to work with his son, director David Jr.

He said: “It’s a terrific initiative giving young writers a voice and my son was directing two of them.

“He asked me, ‘Will you swap colours and become a Rangers supporter?’ I said, ‘Of course, it’s not often I get the chance to wear blue.’